Alone in the World
by Mz. Random Awesomeness
Summary: Max, Max, Max. The Flock abandoned her leaving her to the School. The School gave her Duo. Now she has to solve her biggest problem yet: Raising him at 18. Will the Flock come back? NO FLAMES.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Hi. I'm Maximum Ride.

And I just unexpectedly and painfully gave birth to a baby boy in the middle of a forest somewhere in Mississippi, by myself. Alone. As in no one else was with me. As in I need to get to a hospital, like, right now.

I took off my shirt (I had a beater on underneath, perverts) and wrapped it around my baby who was covered in blood, umbilical cord and all. Yes, I'm drastically tired and just wish to lie down and sleep, but I can't. Not yet. I cautiously jump into the air, hoping my baby isn't affected by the air in his face. I cover him as much as I can with my small shirt. But he's small too. Really really small. A preemie. This just makes it even more vital that I get him to a hospital. He can almost fit in the palm of my hand, and I'm terrified that I'll lose him.

I know what you're wondering. Why am I giving birth alone? Where's the Flock? Four simple words can answer that.

They. Kicked. Me. Out.

About four years ago. They thought I was leading them to more danger. Not away from it. It tore my heart to bits. Anyways, I was at the School for a little longer than three. I was tested on. Experimented on.

Horrible.

But (surprise surprise) they found a way for me to get pregnant without sperm. Wonderful, right? But luckily, I escaped while I was pregnant and became homeless. Reason number one why I'm giving birth in a forest. This baby and myself is all I have. I'm sure my mom, Dr. Martinez is worried but I mean come on...I can't keep running to her with all my problems. It's not fair to her.

My baby being a preemie was only expected. I haven't like a normal pregnant woman should. I haven't done what a normal pregnant should do. No ultra-sounds, no check ups. Nothing. This baby was bound to be unhealthy.

I looked down for a good second and saw a hospital. Amazingly, it said Metro. Thank God! I coasted down slowly so the air wouldn't harm my little boy and ran in. Just by the way I look, they probably think I'm junkie who's gotten herself in a rut. Little do they know, I'm just spirit-broken Bird Girl who's gotten herself in a rut thanks to evil scientists.

I went to the counter and actually begged. Something I never thought I'd do.

"Please....please. I just gave birth to him...by myself. I need some kind of care," I explained to her.

"Oh, of course of course!" She dialed someone's number on the phone and they ran out, taking my baby. I was hysterical by now. I really hope they don't make a big deal of the wings.

"Okay, is there anyone we can contact?"

"....No....."

"No family? No one?" I shake my head sorrowfully.

"You're all alone in this world aren't you?" She asked me. I nodded crying even more. Let the sobs take me. The lady came from behind the counter and pulled me into a hug. God bless this lady!

"You know there's only so much we can do for you?" She said. I nodded again.

Now we all know that someone this nice is very very hard to find. I'm just glad I did find someone this nice. She actually held me until the doctors came to check me up. They all looked concerned and like they actually cared. I felt so warm and comforted. But I knew it wouldn't last forever.


	2. Flashbacks and Eraser Attacks

**Max POV**

It was amazing how nice these people were treating me. The only downer was that they did make a big deal out of my wings and called the government. Great, right? No. They kept asking of all of these questions. Like "Are there more of you?" and "Who is responsible for this?" I didn't' answer them. I definitely didn't answer the first question because then they'd find the Flock. For some unknown reason I want to keep them safe even though they don't give a crap about me. Anyways, I told them one word. Itex. Thy immediately knew who it was and said that they'd get on it as soon as they could. I begged them not to use my name and they agreed, thankfully. The part that I'm most grateful for, is the fact that they're giving me all this money. And along with the money, I get a place to stay for 3 years, all the stuff the baby will need (bottles, diapers, food). Since my baby was a preemie and needed extra care, they said that all of medical expenses were free too. Who'da thought? The government can care people.

My baby, who I've decided to name Duo, needs to stay here for a good month before he can leave. They said it was only to make sure he grows properly and nothing's going wrong. Poor little thing.

I decided to name him Duo because when he was born, it was just the two of us, and that's all we have. Each other. It may not be much, but it's enough to make me want to get a job so I can supply for him and give him the best life I can. Without the Flock. Without anyone. We're gonna make it. I won't have it otherwise.

Yes I think about the Flock all the time. I know they're not dead, I would be able to feel if one of them died. I miss them so much. But I don't need them. They don't need me, obviously. Fang can have fun being leader. I hope it teaches him a lesson. We all know he isn't suited to be a leader. He barely talks for Christ's sake.

Fang. The guy who I was supposed to running off into the sunset with. The guy that was supposed to be my right hand man, my best friend, my boyfriend….The guy that was supposed to love me. He kicked me out.

It really surprised me because he was the one who made the big drawn out speech about how I should just leave.

_$%%%Flashback&*%$^$%&_

_I was sitting on a tree branch, high above everyone else, thinking about why they're all acting weird. No one really talks to me anymore. Fang barely even looks at me. I have no clue why this is happening. Even Angel, my baby, is totally ignoring me. This has been going on for a while now…_

"_Max," I hear Fang call up to me. I get a little excited at first, thinking everyone has snapped out of it and likes me again. Little did I know, it was the exact opposite._

_I jump down back to the ground and say,_

"_Yeah?"_

"_We need to talk," He roughly grabs my wrist and drags me away from our fire. I snatch my wrist away from him, rubbing it. What is wrong with him?_

"_What's wrong?" I ask._

"_We know."_

"_You know? About what?" Nothing he's saying is making sense._

"_You."_

"_Me? What did I do?" He sighs and shakes his head._

"_You and the school. You're leading us to them."_

_I couldn't believe it. They thought I was a traitor. They thought I was leading them to the school. They thought I actually worked for that place, trying to get them captured._

"_You're kidding." I said._

"_No. You can't hide it anymore."_

"_I'm not hiding anything! All I've ever done is try to keep all of you safe!"_

"_Give it up Max. It'd be better if you just left."_

_I gaped at him. He really wanted to send me out there, alone. They were kicking me out when all I've ever done is helped them. My whole life purpose is to keep them safe, yet they think I'm betraying them._

"_What will the others say?" I ask him, on the verge of tears. But no, I'm Maximum Ride. I do not cry just because my family suddenly hates me for no reason._

"_We want you to leave too, Max." Iggy says with the others following close behind him. _

_He crosses his arms, saying he's serious. Gazzy does the same. Nudge just looks at me in disgust. Angel is shaking her head, crying. Like she can't hear my thoughts! She knows I'm innocent but she stands there with the rest of them! I can't believe this…._

"_You guys really want me to leave?"_

"_Yes. And you can't do anything about it. We've thought about this." Fang answers. _

_So they've thought about this for a long time. They've planned this. Organized it. They really want to kick me out. Don't want me. The people who were supposed to be my family, the only five people in the world I trust, want me gone. I guess I have to leave._

"_Fine." I say quietly and grab my bag. The beg with my life in it, basically. I walk out to a clearing and I can hear them following me, making sure I leave. I turn back once, before officially leave. I look Fang right in the eye and let one tear fall. I make sure he sees it, because that's the only tear I'm gonna shed, for him, or the others, ever. _

Sorry I loved you guys with all my heart,_ I thought, as I took a running start, jumping into the air. From the ground I hear Angel yell,_

"_NO!!!"_

_But then it could have been my imagination._

_$$$ End Flashback %^%&^*((*&(_

That's how it happened. As I sit here in this hospital bed next to my baby, I think about them. I hope they're doing well for themselves. Hope they're happy without me.

**Fang POV**

"Fang! Where the hell are we going?!" Nudge yells.

"Just shut the fuck up and fly for God's sake," I yell back. Yeah. This is our life now. We've been flying non-stop for about five hours. Ever since Max left (or we kicked her out) everyone's been cranky and moody. Especially Nudge. She thinks she's dying for some reason. Angel won't even look at me. Iggy is pissed at himself and me. Basically everyone hates me. It sucks.

Actually things suck right now for multiple reasons.

We don't know where Max went.

We're falling apart without her.

I'm falling apart without her.

Everyone hates me. (mentioned that already)

Nothing's changed since she left.

She could be dead. (real bummer)

And Nudge still thinks she's dying!

"Nudge, what the fuck is wrong?! You're not dying!" I explode.

"Yes I am! You don't know what's wrong with me!"

"Nudge, just tell him," Angel says, all depressed.

"Fine! I'm bleeding to death!" she yells.

"What?"

"I'm bleeding! Everywhere! Why do you think I have on three pairs of pants?!"

Oh God.

See? This is another reason to put on the list of things that suck right now. I could repeatedly kick myself in the nuts for what we did to Max. What we did to _us. _Now Nudge has started her fucking PERIOD and no one knows what the fuck to do. Obviously Angel wouldn't. She's only, what, 8 now?

"I'm TEN, Fang! TEN! It's been FOUR YEARS since we kicked Max out you idiot!" Angel screams.

Well damn. You know what? I am an idiot. I'm a fucking idiot. I kicked out Max, the girl I was in love with. Who does that? I knew we needed her. I knew I loved her, yet I kicked her out. I can't believe myself. Angel hasn't talked to me in a long long time (four years apparently) and the first think she says to me is that I'm an idiot. Which is SO true. I tore my family apart. We're crashing and burning without Max. I'm not made to be a leader. I've been doing a suckish job at it too. There's only one thing left we can do before we fall apart completely.

"Alright. We're gonna go looking for Max," I announce. Then I immediately feel someone kick me in the shin. And hell yeah it hurt.

"It's about time!" Iggy yells.

"Guys…." Gazzy says.

"What?" I answer.

"Erasers."

I turn around in mid air and see a group of about fifteen to twenty. We can take em. Easy. I hope. We've been attacked at a regular pace since Max left. Nothing with that changed. We figured she's the reason we were being attacked and if she's gone, we'd be fine. How wrong we were.

As they came closer and I was in my fight stance, I tried to get my adrenaline going. Pump myself up.

"Alright guys, let's do this," I say, then throw myself at the nearest one. A kick to the head, he staggers back. A hand clap over the ears: He's gone. The big one, who looks like the leader of em, rushes up to me. I try to punch him but he catches my fist and growls,

"Where is Maximum Ride?"

"I don't know, maybe China," I say, full of sarcasm.

"Where is Maximum Ride?" He says again, a little louder.

"I don't know, dude," And it breaks my heart saying that because it's true. I really don't know where she is.

"You better spill the beans, birdie,"

"I. Don't. Know. We kicked her out," I say the last part almost in a whisper. I'm such an asshole.

"Dammit!" He yells and lets me go. Then he turns to the rest of the Erasers and calls out,

"She's not here! We _HAVE_ to keep looking for her and Experiment 5rf453grt! Move out!"

And they flew off, leaving me with the thought of, who is this new experiment?


	3. The Loft and Wallowing in our Misery

**Max POV**

ONE MONTH LATER

Right now, I'm headed to my apartment that the wonderful government is supplying me with. It's actually a loft, they say. I've always wondered what the difference was between a loft and an apartment. The lady who's driving us (Me and Duo) there, Lacey, says that lofts usually have stairs and an elevator and apartments are just one floor.

"Have you ever seen iCarly?" She asks me. I answer no. "Oh. Well it's a lot like the loft they live in on that show."

I just nod, pretending to know what she's talking about.

Duo is a month old, but about the size of a normal 3 week old. Preemie remember? They didn't have to do any surgery on him or anything that would decrease his size anymore. They say he's a "Healthy" preemie, which I'm very glad for. I hardly ate when I was carrying him and we all know that sleeping in trees isn't the most comfortable. Somehow he came out okay. Guess my luck is finally kicking in, huh?

I mean with the government, and all the stuff they gave me...Duo has a car seat AND stroller AND crib that's actually 4-in1, so as he grows, you can adjust the bed from crib, to toddler bed, to twin sized bed, all the way up to full sized. It amazes me the things that these people come up with.

I look out the window and we pull up into a small parking lot, the U Haul truck behind us with all of my baby's stuff. Lacey opens the door for me and I take a good look at the place where I'll be staying for next three years via the government. The Building is tall, but not too tall and made of sand colored brick. The entrance has bushes on each side. I look behind the building and see a large forest. They really did listen to my requests.

When I turn back around, Lacey has Duo in his stroller already and is getting out his diaper bag. I walk over to my sleeping baby and kiss his forehead. He lets out one of those cute baby yawns that always makes you go "Aw!!!" But of course. Because that's just not me. He has on little navy blue pants and a matching navy blue shirt with a lion on the front. I guess they found a small enough hoodie for him to wear so he has that on, along with a navy blue had that covers his short blond hair. I almost burst out laughing when they handed me these super tiny black Converses to put on him. They were just so cute! He was so cute in his coming home outfit that I wanted to cry. First of all because I didn't think we'd even have a home to come to, second because I originally didn't have a clue of how I'd dress him. And here we are, standing in front of him. Well, he's not standing, but you know what I mean.

Lacey leads us inside through the front while the U Haul people take the big stuff through the back. The lobby of this place is amazing. It looks like a lobby that should be in the Hilton or a five star hotel. Or apartment. She leads us to the elevator (which also looks very fancy) and pushes the 12 button. The highest floor. As I requested.

We walk out and down this large hallway that wasn't narrow at all. You could fit a whole car in here, and down to the door marked 1221. I think, _This is it, Max. This is where you will actually live._ As Lacey opens the door with the key. She opens it and BAM. There is my grand loft apartment. It looks way too fancy to be mine. It's also HUGE. Just to think that there's a second floor!

The carpet is a rich cream color, and very shaggy and soft. The upholstery on the couch, love seat and two other chairs (they aren't really chairs, they're way bigger than that, and softer) is tan. There's a small glass table in the middle, telling me that that's the living room. There's a small kitchen, more like a kitchenette that's a soft brown. The stairs separate the living room from dining room. In there, there's also a bigger glass table for eating. I take this all in, trying to believe that this is mine for three years. I look up the steps and see the one bedroom. I can see it so easily because there's no door or anything. Just a bit of space with a bed and pillows. The bathroom is downstairs, through a small door next to the kitchen. It looks just as luxurious as the rest of the loft.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Lacey says to me. All I can do is nod my head. Words won't come. I don't how I deserved all of this, but somehow I did.

The men from U Haul come in, asking me where I want Duo's furniture. I tell them upstairs in the bedroom. They take it there. Lacey tells me that everything is free. The stocked refrigerator, water, air, heat, everything is free. I have to pay for nothing unless I want to buy it myself. I'm so overwhelmed by all this that I wrap her up into a hug. I almost start crying. Almost.

"Thank you so much," I tell her. She pats my back and says,

"You're welcome sweetie. Call me if you need me." She hands me a card with her name on it. I smile to her and wave to the U Haul guys as they leave. Then I collapse on the super cushiony couch, smiling. I hear Duo whimpering so I get up to see what's wrong. He's got his entire hand in his mouth. He must be hungry. I gently take him out and walk back over to the couch. I lift up one side of my shirt (that I bought when Lacey took me shopping) and hold Duo up to my chest so he can eat. Yeah, breast feeding may not be the most exciting thing but it keeps him happy and that's all that matters.

I pick up the remote on the glass table and turn on the flat screen TV. We have cable! I immediately turn to MTV2 and watch whatever is on. When Duo's finished, I burp him, then rock him slowly to sleep. He does one of those cute yawns again and closes those beautiful milk chocolate brown eyes. I carefully set him down on top of a blanket on the couch on his stomach, while I go to the kitchen and find something to eat. They've gotten all of my favorites! Fruit, juice, sandwich meat, milk, cereal...Any other thing you can think of, they bought it, and it's in my house. They even supplied baby formula! I'm really starting to like these guys. I grab an orange soda and a mini bag of chips and sit on the floor in front of Duo watching videos until I drift to sleep myself, smiling.

**Fang POV  
**"Fang! Where the hell are we going?!" Nudge yells at me, AGAIN.

"Dude, we've been flying in circles. I don't think we're gonna find her if we keep going in the same damn pattern that we have for the past fifteen minutes," Iggy says.

I'm going to explode. This is waaaaaay too much for me. Nudge won't shut up with the whole dying thing and Angel is still not talking to anyone but Gazzy and Iggy is constantly hitting himself in the head. What a bunch we are. But I'm seriously about to lose it. I'm losing my mind over here, not knowing what I'm supposed to do. I mean, yeah we've been flying in circles for the past fifteen minutes but that's only because I don't where and how to start looking for Max.

"Why don't you try landing in a CITY so we can actually SEARCH for her?" Angel says. Her mouth has gotten quite a lot smarter since Max left. That might be why. We've all got potty mouths and basically ignore anything Max ever said. When we kicked her out, all discipline left with her. They don't even try to listen to me.

"Because you make us fly around in circles," Angel mumbled angrily. I rolled my eyes and started searching for a city. After about thirty minutes I found one. I told them all that we should land. Angel said she'll try to search for Max's mind since she can hear it if they're in the same state, which I highly doubt we were. We're in freaking Alabama. Max is probably on the other side of the country by now. That is...if the School doesn't have her. And she's not dead.

"Don't think like that." Angel tells me as she walks in front of me to Gazzy. He wraps an arm around her and she sighs. She must tired. I don't blame her. We've going for quite a while. And yet again, it's my fault.

As we walked and walked down the streets, I came up with a super brilliant, super amazing plan that will save our asses for a while AND maybe lead us to Max.

_It's not that great of a plan, Fang._ Angel tells me, completely killing my bright idea. I decided to tell the Flock anyway.

"What if we call Dr. Martinez and see if she's with her or knows where she is?" I suggested.

"That's a great idea, Fang! And she can stop me from dying!" I sigh. Nudge and her dying ideas.

"Do we have her number?" Iggy says monotonously.

"Well...She's a doctor...I'm sure her number's on the Internet somewhere,"

"Fine."

I tell everyone that we should head to a Starbuck's to get Wifi and start searching the web for her number. We see one a little ways down the road. As we walk there, no one talks or says anything. Don't ask me why. They've all changed. And if you guessed that it's my fault, you're correct! Because it is. But now I have to find some kind of way to fix this. I think calling Dr. Martinez is a great start.

(Awesome Invisible Line!!!!!!!!!!)

"V. Martinez. Here it is right here," Nudge says, using her freaky techno powers.

"Her number is 480-555-9815. It's her office number. It says that they're not closed so let's call!"

"Alright....anybody got a cell phone and a game plan as to how to tell Dr. M that we gave her daughter the boot and are trying to relocate her?" Iggy said.

Silence. Crickets chirping.

"I see..."

"Well, we could tell her that she was taken...."I suggest.

"We can't lie to Max's mom! What if we need her! Like I do!" Nudge exclaims.

"She won't know that we lied to her." I state.

Next thing I know, Angel is walking up to me with the cashiers cell phone telling me,

"Dial the number." Well, more like ordering me..

I take the phone from her and nervously dial Dr. M's number. I THINK my hands are shaking but that's probably just my imagination.

"Dr. Martinez speaking," she answers on the third ring.

"Uh, hi, Dr. Martinez," I begin.

"Fang? Is this Fang?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"Oh my goodness! How are you? How's Max and the Flock?"

"Uh, you see that's what we're trying to figure out. We don't know where Max is and thought that you might."

"No, of course I don't. She's not here. What, did she run away or get taken?"

"Uh, got taken...."

"Oh my! She'll get out won't she?"

"Well yeah. Hopefully she's out already but...we don't know where she is."

"Well I can try Jeb. I'm sure he's keeping tabs on her."

"Yeah, could you do that?"

"Of course! Is there a number where I can get back in touch with you?"

_Angel! Trick the lady into letting us have her phone._ I think to her.

_Fine._

"Fang? Are you there?"

"Yeah, um, you can just call this number."

"Okay. I'll get in touch as soon as possible."

"Okay."

"Tell Ella I said hi!" Iggy yells into the phone.

"Will do, Iggy! Talk to you guys later!"

"Bye," I hung up the phone and said, "What now?"

"You're the leader." Angel said as she walked out of the restaurant. That kinda stung. Okay it stung a lot. I may be leader now but I don't always have the answers like Max did. I never have the answers. Just really good ideas and logic like with calling Dr. Martinez. I know I'm an idiot and I know I screwed up and everybody hates me and blame me for everything but it wasn't just me that wanted her gone. All of them did. We talked about our decision over and over again and no one said anything about not going through with it. I'm not the only one to blame. The only thing I did was deliver the message to Max. We were all a part in her leaving.

I hear whimpering and look over at Angel, seeing her crying. Gazzy asks her what's wrong.

"You're right Fang," she starts. "We're all to blame. Not just you. I'm sorry." She runs to me and closes her small arms around my waist. I hug her back and tell her it's okay. Nudge hugs me too, apologizing. Then Gazzy. Of course Iggy doesn't join this love fest because he's just too cool for that. We have a short group hug, then when everyone lets go I say,

"Alright guys. No more wallowing in our misery. We are going to find Max and beg on our hands and knees for forgiveness. Got it?"

"Got it!" They reply, and we all continue down the streets, looking for any kind of sign of Max anywhere. And Dr. Martinez's phone call.


	4. New Friends

**Max POV**

Taking care of a baby by yourself is REALLY hard.

Duo's a very good baby, like he doesn't cry he just whimpers and he's always smiling and wiggling around. But feeding him is so difficult because I don't know when you're supposed to stop breast feeding and when I'm supposed to give him regular food. I'm sleepy ALL THE TIME from being on the run for so long. I also have to leave him alone a lot. Like if I run to the bathroom, or take a quick nap. He's by himself and if something happens or he gets hungry or whatever I'm not there to see it. I can't keep leaving him unsupervised. It's very irresponsible.

I hear a knock on my door and think, _Who could that be? Nobody knows me here,_

I pick Duo up from his swing (Yeah they got him one of those too!) and go to the door. Whoever it is keeps knocking, and knocking. I guess they didn't expect anyone to be home. I open the door quickly to see a girl who's about as tall as me with bright red hair and gray eyes. She has tattoos running down both arms and a lip ring. She looks really rough, like she's been through it all.

"Hey, uh, you Maximum Ride?" She asks me.

"Who wants to know?" I ask cautiously. She smiles and puts her hand out to shake mine.

"I'm Star. Nice to meet you." I shake her hand and she walks right past me into the loft.

_Who is this girl? She looks like she's been to hell and back._ I thought.

"Uh, why are you here? How do you know me?'

"I tracked you down. We were in the School together, with Jag, Ty, Tar, and Mac."

"You tracked me down?" How weird is this? A girl shows up at my doorstep saying she tracked me down from the School. When I think about it, she does look familiar, but when we were in the School she didn't have all the tattoos and lip ring.

"Yeah, when we escaped. They're all outside, actually…" she says walking back to the door.

"Whoa whoa whoa, are you trying to _live _with me?" I ask. They can't honestly think that they can just come filing in here. I can't even trust them yet, let alone with Duo.

"Well, yeah. It's not like we have anywhere else to go," She opens the door and there stand five boys, that all look as rough as Star does.

"Boys, meet Max. Max, meet Jag, Ty, Tar, Mac, and Ace." She pointed to each one saying their name. Jag and Ty looked to be about my age (so did Star). Ty had snakebites **[So freaking SEXY!!!!]** on his bottom lip and a snake running down his arm, all the way to his hands on both sides. He had brown hair and blue eyes.

Jag had a chin ring, but from what I can see, no tattoos. He had dark (almost brown) red hair that went to his jaw line and brown eyes.

Tar looked about 16. He had his entire left arm tattooed in a sleeve. I didn't see any piercings. He had Star's bright red hair and gray eyes.

Mac looked like he was around the 13 or 14 age. He only had a tattoo of what looked like a knife digging into his skin on his neck. He had short black hair and hazel eyes.

Ace was a baby. A very young baby. He looked not too much older than Duo. Jag was holding him. I'm guessing that's his baby. But who's the mom?

"Hi Max," Ty said. He said it like we were at an addicts meeting. I almost started laughing. These guys didn't seem like any kind of threat. And I could use the company. I told them they could come in.

"Do you have food?" Ty asked.

"Yeah it's over there," I said pointing to the kitchen. Jag handed Star the baby and headed over to the kitchen with the rest of the boys. I sat down on the couch with Star and started asking questions. It turns out that they all have wings and got their tattoos and piercings when they escaped the School. They decided to try to get out when they saw I did. That made me feel good because I influenced someone. Anyway, Ace is Star and Jag's baby. The School is to blame for that one too. They're a couple though. And they used sperm with her unlike with me, which was more painful. She says that Ace was born a month ago in a forest outside of Alabama. It's amazing how much we have in common. She said she's been with these guys ever since they escaped. They're her family, like the Flock was mine. I even told her about the Flock. How they kicked me out and left me like this. She was very sympathetic. By this time, Ty was done eating and he came over and sat on the other side of me. My heart sped up a bit, but I have no idea why.

"So they just kicked you out?" He said. I nodded. I occupied myself with Duo, letting him chew on my finger.

"How'd you get this little guy?"

"School."

"You know that place really amazes me with the things they can do. I almost murdered all those damn whitecoats when Star was pregnant."

"They can do whatever they want as long as they have an experiment to research."

"Well we don't have to worry about that anymore." He said.

"I don't know. I think Erasers are still looking for me."

"Well you've got back up now. None of us will let anything happen to you. _I _won't let anything happen to you." He told me, looking right in my eyes. I don't know how, but I already trusted this guy. Then I figured out what that speeding in my heart was. I used to get it with Fang. But guess what? This time I'm not gonna fight it.

I have a little crush on Ty.

He smiled at me and I smiled back, then he went back to the kitchen to eat some more.

"What was _that_?!" Star whisper-yelled.

"What?"

"I so saw that little smile between you two!"

"It was nothing…"

"Oh yeah right. We're the only two girls living here now. We HAVE to be friends, meaning you HAVE to tell me things like this!"

I felt a blush flood my face and looked down, occupied with Duo again.

"Mhm. I knew it would happen. That's exactly how me and Jag got together. We were the oldest in our little group. You and Ty are the second oldest so it was only bound to happen."

"Sure…" I say awkwardly.

"We have to get you a tattoo and some piercings."

"WHAT?"

"I can't stand to see how plain you are. You need some kind of piercing or tattoo before I lose my mind. Let's go," She says grabbing my hand and standing up.

"Wait, I can't just leave Duo here!"

"The boys'll watch him. Right boys?"

"What?" Jag says around a mouthful of potato chips.

"You'll watch Duo while we get Max some body décor?"

"Sure," Ty says.

"Uh--" I start.

Star takes Duo from my hands and puts him in Ty's (I think she did that on purpose). She grabs my hand again and drags me out the door. I take one last look at Duo and Ty before the door closes.

(Awesome Invisible Line!!!!!!!!)

"I don't know what to get." I announce.

"You should get Ty's name on your ass," Star suggests.

"You are sick. There's no way I'm gonna get a tattoo on my ass, let alone it be Ty's name."

"Whatever."

We're at a tattoo parlor that Star found. She says this is the one she came to. It amazes me how many tattoos she has and she's only been in here once. Meaning she got them all at once.

"My arms was bleeding for hours," She tells me.

"I think I want this one," I say pointing to one on the wall. It was a huge red rose that was very detailed and beautiful. It had thorns on the stem that wrap around the word "Whoa,"

I really liked it. A lot.

"That is so hot. Paolo why didn't you show me that one the first time?!" She asks the tattooist.

"You didn't need it. It was too elegant to match your other tats," He told her. She huffs. "Where do you want that?" he asks me.

"Um….What do you think, Star?"

"Huh?" She's too busy looking at all the other tats on the walls. I swear she's obsessed.

I sigh. "I'll just get it on my forearm." I tell Paolo. He nods.

When it's done, he puts Vaseline over it and let's me look at it in the mirror. It looks just like it does in the picture. I absolutely love it! I never even thought about getting a tattoo before. Now I have one and love it. It didn't even hurt at all.

"Ugh, that looks so awesome." Star sighs. "Now what do you wanna get pierced? You should get snakebites like Ty."

"No!'

"At least one? Like right here," She says pointing to a spot in the corner of my lip. Paolo takes a washable marker and puts a little dot where it would go to show me. I kinda like it. But then I think that I want my belly button pierced too..

"I like it. Can I get my belly button pierced too?" I ask Star.

"You can do whatever you want! It's your body! That would be so hot too. I think I'll get mine pierced right along with ya."

He does my snakebite first, and all I can think about is what Ty will think. I try to shake the thoughts from my head, but they keep running back. Stupid brain.

Surprisingly, my snakebite didn't hurt either. Star says that belly button rings hurt a little more so I prepare myself with the whole, _Pain is just a message_ thing.

We sit down in these chairs and pull our shirts up over our belly button of course. I see another tattoo of Star's that's a rainbow arching over the bottom of her stomach with a leprechaun underneath and a chat bubble to him saying, "Come and taste this rainbow!"

I burst out laughing when I see it.

"What?" She asks me.

"Your tattoo!" I gasp, pointing to it.

"Oh. Yeah, that's Paolo's fave," She says. Paolo smiles as he gets the things ready.

I keep laughing until it's time to get a hole in my belly button.

"You ready?" he asks me. I take a deep breath and nod. I feel his hands brush my stomach and a little sting, then it's over. Bam. It's done. No pain at all.

"Wow, that didn't even hurt," I say. They both look at me like I'm crazy.

"I've been in a lot of nasty fights," I tell him. Star's face shows recognition. Paolo's shows…..fright? Whatever.

He does Star's and all she does is flinch. I think we did good for a couple of girls. Wow, that was such a sexist comment. Look at me.

Paolo tells us to keep our shirts rolled up for now and when we get home. He says to sleep on our back for a while and clean it regularly, blah blah blah. We pay him and walk out onto the street. Me with my tattoo and piercings.

I feel like this is the beginning of my new life. _With_ Star, Ty, Jag, Mac, Tar, and Ace.


	5. Max Got Turned Into A Baby?

**Fang POV**

We're walking again, down the streets, waiting for Dr. Martinez's phone call. I swear I keep looking at it every five seconds. If she doesn't call me right now I'll--

_Tell me what ya gonna do tonight,_

_My friends are calling you out!_

_Oh ohhhhhhhhh!_

_Whoa whoa oh oh oh oh_

_Whoa oh oh ohhhhhh_

I immediately flipped the phone open and pressed the send button, saying,

"Hello?"

"Fang?" YES!

"Yeah?"

"I know where Max is..."

Can you say good luck or what?! FINALLY I've done something right! My plan worked out perfectly! We're gonna find Max! But will she take us back? Max is a very strong willed girl. I'm sure she's not too happy with us yet. Even after four years. But that's how she rolls.

"Where?" I say, sounding desperate.

"She's in a loft apartment in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There's only one problem...."

"What?" Oh God, what has she done?

"She's being protected by the government." Super. Just what we needed.

"Fine."

"You don't understand. You can't get to her. They're watching her twenty-four seven."

"So they'll see us come in. We'll be fine." I hear her sigh.

"If you say so, Fang. Be careful."

"K. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Bye."

I flip the phone shut and turn to the Flock with a huge smile on my face. They all look at me questioningly. Little do they know, our lives are about to change.

"We're headed to Vicksburg, Mississippi."

"What?! That's where she is?! That's like, right next door!"

"Exactly. So let's go!"

We head over to a clearing in an empty parking lot, take running jumps, and leap into the air. Max, here we come.

(Awesome Invisible Line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

We're taking a break, of course. A certain someone was hungry. But we are in Mississippi now. We're in Jackson, to be specific. Which is about a hop skip and a jump away from Vicksburg. We are SO close. But of course stupid Nudge just HAD to eat and delay our trip. Then all we have to do is find lofts there, see if Maximum Ride lives there, and BOOM! We have our leader back. But of course you know it's definitely not gonna be that easy. There might be a few fists thrown. At me, to be specific. I expect her to be angry and mad and furiously pissed off at us, but she's Max. I know her. She can't stay mad at us forever. Especially since we have Angel and Nudge and Gazzy as our Bambi Eye masters. I really think we have a good chance at getting her back. And if you think we don't, nobody asked for your input anyway! So mind your own damn business!

**Max POV**

I'm downstairs in the kitchen, talking to Tar, while I make Duo his bottle. He says he's sixteen (pretty good guess on my part, right?). He has a lot of powers already. He can move things with his mind which is super awesome, shape-shift, and his eyes glow in the dark. Spooky. I actually tested his little theory by turning off the lights in the kitchen. Sure enough, they lit up the whole room. Like little light bulbs are inside his eyes. It turns out that he's also Star's blood brother. When you think about it, their names actually rhyme. Star, Tar, get it? And they both have that shocking bright red hair and gray eyes. I could kick myself for not knowing before.

His entire left arm is a sleeve, as I mentioned before. It's just a bunch of different signs and pictures of cartoons. My favorite was the one of Spongebob punching Patrick in the face. These guys had some really sarcastic tattoos to only have been once. But he said he didn't go for the piercing, thing. "Manly men don't have more than one hole," as he put it. I just rolled my eyes at him.

When Duo's bottle was finished, I told Tar I'd talk to him later and started up the stairs. Little did I know that when I got there, Ty would be asleep in MY bed with MY baby laying on his chest (bare chest, might I add. None of the guys like wearing shirts. Star's always in a sports bra. Was awkward at first, then I got used to it and started doing it myself.), also sleeping. **[Wow, that was a long sentence in parenthesis,]** I walked over to my bed and shook Ty's shoulder. One of his eyes opened and he looked at me.

"Can I help you?" he said.

"Well, you're kinda in my bed, with my baby,"

"Your point?"

"Can you leave?" I chuckle. How strange is it that a really hot guy is in your bed? Did I just think that? Oh yeah, I did. Wow, this is the second boy that I've called hot. I'm on a roll.

"No, you're bed is comfy," He whines, making a pouty face. I laugh out loud this time.

"Ty, I need my child. And my bed."

"Why?"

"He needs to eat!"

"I'll feed him." That took me way off guard.

"Really?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Okay this is really strange. Why is he so confusing?!

"Why do you enjoy my baby's company so much?"

"He helps me relax when I sleep." How odd....

"Okay then, well, you know to burp him and everything?" He nods.

"Uh, fine. Here," I hand him the bottle and he brushes my hand for an extra second, leaving it all tingly. I turn around and walk out before anything else can happen--

"Max," I turn back around.

"Hm?"

"Why don't you stay in here with me?" He says sitting up, making sure to hold Duo securely.

"Um....I don't....see why not....." I stutter walking over and sitting in a corner of the bed. I look at Ty and expect to him to say something or do something. Guess I was wrong. He's very confusing. I can't read him like I could Fang.

"Why do you want me in here if you're not gonna say anything?"

"Because with the both of you in here, it's even more relaxing."

"How--?"

"Shh, you're ruining the relaxation...."

"What--?"

"Shh......"

This boy is a total mystery.

Pretty soon, I get bored and decide that I might as well take a nap too. So I lay back on the bed, looking at Duo and Ty one last time before I close my eyes for the night.

**Fang POV  
**We decided to camp out for the night in a forest right around the corner from Max's apartment. I wanted to go right now, of course, but everyone was _tired _and _exhausted _and _couldn't go any longer before they passed out._ So we found a forest not too far from her and took to the trees. I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be able to sleep anyway. So I guess I'll just think about Max until everybody gets up.

I still hate myself for doing what I did to her. I mean, she's been my best friend for fourteen years and I kick her out on some lame excuse? I expect her to have moved on by now. She probably has this awesome human boyfriend that waits on her every hand and foot, doing what she says, but not really knowing who she is. I'm the only who will truly know who Max is. But I'm sure I've lost that kind of trust with her. Hell, if someone abandoned me for four years I wouldn't trust them either. But it's really sad, because the Flock were the only people Max did trust. Now she can't trust anyone.

Except her super awesome new boyfriend.

I really hope she isn't with someone yet. I know four years is a long time to stay single and I wouldn't even have a chance with her, but....I still don't like that she's with someone else. I have no right to say that though. She should move on. She deserves to be happy. She's got her whole life ahead of her without having to take care of other people.

All I hope is that she's happy.

(Awesome Invisible Line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

"Okay. We can do this. We can get Max back." Angel says pumping us up. I'm not too pumped, but I am nervous.

We're standing in front of Max's door, hyperventilating, trying to find some kind of courage to knock on the door. I'm right in front of it with Angel next to me, holding my hand. It's pretty early, but we have to get this over with so....

_Knock Knock Knock_

(Insert extremely long annoying pause......)

The door opens and........

A girl with bright red hair and gray eyes with a lot of tattoos and a lip ring shows up, not looking too mice right now.

"Who are you?" She says.

"Um, is Max here?"

She narrows her eyes at me, (insert another extremely long annoying pause....).

"She's asleep." Thank God. I was starting to think we had the wrong place.

"Can we come in?"

"That depends. Who are you?"

"Old friends."

"Look, if you're gonna be smart with me, then I can kick your sorry ass out the window. So just fucking tell me who are."

Okay then....

"Star, what's wrong?" Some really tall guy, about nineteen with a chin ring said, walking up to the door.

"Nothing, Jag. So are you gonna answer me?" The girl, Star says.

"I'm Nick. This is Ariel, Tiffany, Jeff, and Mike."

"Come in." She pushes the door open further and we walk in, taking in the place. It's looks freaking beautiful in here, and yes, I did just say beautiful. It looks Donald Trump's loft.

"Check em." I hear the girl say.

"What?" I ask.

"We need to check you for weapons." Before I can even answer, two other guys come out and start patting us down. The dude Jag, is checking me. Why would Max need people to check for weapons?

When he's done, he kind of glares at me, as he walks away. I can hear Nudge giggle as she gets checked by the guy that looks about her age. Gross.

"So where's Max?" I finally ask.

"Up there," Star says pointing to the top of the stairs.

"Can I go up?"

"No."

"Why? You checked us for weapons."

"That doesn't mean we trust you." Trust is a pretty funny thing....

"Well can you go get her?"

"What's the magic word?" The guy who was checking Nudge snaps. He looks like Star. Bright red hair, gray eyes.

"Uh, please?"

"Ding ding ding! Give the man a prize!" Star says walking up the stairs. I cross my arms, feeling really uncomfortable. Who are these people and why are they staying with Max?

_They're her friends. Her new friends..._ Angel tells me.

I hear footsteps coming back down and I get nervous all over again. This is it. We're about to see Max.

Oh God I'm gonna puke....

_Pull it together!_

I nod at her and try to do what she says. Star reaches the ground before we see who it is following her. My jaw almost drops when I see them. It's ANOTHER guy who looks about eighteen (cough cough our age cough cough) with no shirt on, holding a baby with blond hair and brown eyes.

"Sorry, Max was turned into a baby," He says.

WHAT?!

**Max was turned into a baby? OMG! LOLz! The ringtone earlier was All My Friends by EatMeWhileI'mHot just to let you know! **


	6. Two Families

**DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Max is a baby? Ty, Ty, Ty....That tricky little thing. Where here's the next chappie! [Wow, that's a super gay word...]**

**Fang POV**

Okay this can't be happening. There's no way Max got turned into a baby. You've got to be kidding me. These people aren't serious. I mean....how?! You can't turn a person back into a baby!

I look at Star and see her chuckling at my shocked face. Ha ha. Very funny. Simply hilarious. Notice the sarcasm?

"What?" I ask.

"Max got turned into a baby. So sorry. There really wasn't any help for her." The guy shakes his head sorrowfully. I don't believe it for a second. Then I really look at the baby. I mean, really really look at it. It has on a gray shirt with a dog on it and baby jeans. It looks like a boy's outfit. But, the baby kinda does look like a boy--

"TY!" I hear someone yell.

"Shit," The guy mutters, holding the baby. "Yeah?" he calls back, looking nervous.

I hear fast pounding footsteps, like someone is running. Angel's and Iggy's face brighten. I just look confused. Then out of the blue, MAX shoot down the stairs, looking pissed.

**Max POV**

"What the hell are you doing?!" I yell at Ty. I woke up when I rolled over to find that no one was there, including my baby. Of course me being so darn paranoid thought he was taken. I was about to kill Ty if he let my baby get taken or took him himself.

"Uh...nothing, Mandy. Just holding Max."

"Why are you calling me Mandy?! And you know I'm paranoid why would you just leave and not tell me? I panic when I wake up and my baby's not there!" I take Duo out of his arms.

I heard a bunch of people gasp and someone growl. I turn to them, noticing for the first time that someone other than us in the room. My jaw drops when I see them.

The Flock.

I suddenly feel all sorts of different emotions at once. Anger, from what they did to me. Happiness to see them after so long. Shock, from how much they've grown and changed, and a whole lot more. I just stare at them for a minute. They're really here. In my house. How did they find me? Why did they look for me in the first place?

Then all of those other emotions die down and leave one behind. Anger.

"Max--" Fang starts.

"No." I cut him off.

"Max--"

"No." He sighs, frustrated.

"Please just--"

"No."

"Max, who _are_ they?" Ty asks me.

"The people who abandoned me four years ago," I tell him. Jag,Tar, Mac, and Star are just watching as all of this goes down. Knowing Star, she's not gonna stay quiet for long. All of the Flock's eyes cast downward.

"Wait wait wait, hold on a second." Star says, walking up to me with her hands in the air.

"_They,_" She motions her hands to them. "Are the _Flock?_" I nod. She sucks in a breath and shakes her head.

"You people should be ashamed of yourselves," She says harshly.

"Could you guys leave us alone for a second?" I ask my friends.

"Max, I'm not leaving you here by yourself. What if Mr. Emo here decides to get frisky?" Ty says. Fang glares at him. Ty glares back just as hard, not afraid or affected one bit.

"I'll be fine. There's no frisk-ness going on here," I say coldly.

"The lady to leave, so let's leave. Ace is on the couch, Max." Star tells me. She touches my shoulder as she grabs Jag and Tar's arm, pulling them out with her. Mac follows, but Ty stands still. I nudge his shoulder.

"Just let me stay. I'll go upstairs, I don't like you here alone with these guys," He says, eyeing them.

"It'll be fine, trust me."

"Max--"

"Please."

"Can I at least take Duo with me to keep me relaxed?" He begs.

"I think I need him for this one." He sighs and gives me a look saying "Be careful," I give him one saying "I will." He nods and reluctantly walks out the door, glancing at me one last time.

I sigh and go sit on the couch, putting Ace in his swing first. I hold Duo to me proudly as the Flock take seats across from me. Fang leans over with his elbows on his knees, staring at me. I stare back coldly.

"So," I say, breaking the silence. "Say something."

"We're sorry." Fang answers.

"Mhm. And...?"

"We made a stupid mistake," Iggy says, lowering his head. His sightless eyes also look lifeless.

"Mhm. Go on."

"Max we love you so much! We were only trying to keep ourselves safe! That's what you taught us. To protect each other at all costs. We only did what we thought was right--" I cut Nudge off.

"When I told you that, I meant _me_ included."

No one has anything to say to that.

Duo yawns and I smile at him. Whenever he yawns, I can't help but smile. It's the cutest thing ever. I actually forgot the Flock was here for a second before Fang spoke up.

"Who's the dad?"

This is the type of question that makes me uncomfortable. No, I didn't expect Fang to be asking me that, but it's a terrible question all the same.

"No one." I answer.

"How is no one the dad?" He says, sort of angrily.

"Because when you guys _abandoned me, _the School captured me and experimented, and found a way for me to get pregnant _without _a guy. Causing some pretty serious pain for me." I snap.

He winces. Yeah, not what he expected.

"Max we need you. Fang is a terrible leader and everyone is falling apart without you." Gazzy says.

"You should have thought about that happening before you kicked me out."

I see Iggy put his face in his hands. I'm sure this isn't going how they all planned. Angel hasn't said anything yet. She probably doesn't have to, since she can read my thoughts. I look at her. She should be ten now. She has tears flowing down her face. I hate hurting her, I really do, but she and the others hurt me more than they'll ever realize.

"Max we're sorry. We're not perfect. What we did was selfish and terrible and unforgiveable, but we love you. You mean so much to us. We've known you our whole lives and—and—we _need_ you, Max. All of us are falling apart. You're what held us together." Angel tells me.

"Yet you kicked me out, after all that."

Her cries turn into sobs, and she leans on Iggy's shoulder. Nudge doesn't look any better. Gazzy looks like he's about to die. They're really sorry. They admit that what they did was wrong on about a thousand levels.

They want me back.

The thing is, I'm doing so good on my own. Look at my home! I did good. Even though it took a lot of help and the government, I did better without them than with them.

But I can't hold a grudge forever. Plus, if they hadn't kicked me out, I wouldn't have Duo and Star, and Ty and Jag, Tar, Mac, Ace....They wouldn't be here if I hadn't been rejected. I love them so much and trust them. I really should be thanking the Flock for bringing them into my life. But I'm not that sappy. I'm still Maximum Ride.

That's the important thing. I've always been Maximum Ride and always will be. These five other people will always be my Flock and I'll always love them. The things we've gone through together in fourteen years can't be overthrown by a simple four. I never thought I'd say this but.....

I forgive them.

All of them. I mean, what did you expect? Yeah I was mad, but a part of growing up is learning to forgive. And I've grown up a tremendous amount since I've had Duo. Me and Fang may still be a little rocky though. Ty is just....I don't know. There' something about him that Fang didn't have. Fang will always be my best friend, but I don't think a relationship is right for us. Come to think about it, it never was.

"Okay guys, listen up," I say. They all look up at me with pitiful looks on their faces. I want to smack all of them. I never taught them to look so pathetic! I taught them to be strong.

"I forgive you."

Nudge's face lights up and she squeals, running over to me and smothering me in a hug. Then Angel joins, and Gazzy. Iggy looks relieved and Fang just looked shocked. As shocked as he can look. Amazing how I still know him so well after four years. I hear Duo whimper.

"Okay okay, watch the baby," I tell them. They back up a little bit, still holding on to me.

"Thank you so much Max! I swear if we had to leave with Fang still being leader I would DIE!"

I chuckle and smirk at him. He looks at the ground. I guess he's still feeling a little crappy.

"Speaking of dying, Max, I am. I'm going to DIE soon. I know it."

"Why?"

"Because I'm bleeding all over the place--"

"Okay um, we'll deal with that in a second, Nudge. You're not going to die."

"I'm not?!"

"Told you." Angel said.

I stand up and put Duo in his swing next to Ace's, then walk over to Iggy.

"You gonna give me a hug, Ig?" I ask him.

"Oh, yeah!" He says getting up and wrapping me in his big huge arms. He's gotten taller. And more muscular. After I finish hugging him, I turn to the Flock.

"Okay guys, you can look around. Just be careful and don't break anything, PLEASE. You all can stay with me for now--"

"REALLY?!?!? OMG MAX YOU ARE THE GREATEST I SWEAR!!!!!" Nudge yells running over to me and hugging me again. I smile I smooth her hair down. I missed doing that.

She let's go and goes running around with the rest of them.

I sit down on the couch next to Fang, waiting for him to do something. He sighs and looks at me.

A small smile slowly grows on his lips. I smile back. He looks kind of uncomfortable for a second, then he leans over and gives me a hug. This is pretty odd for him, hugging. It's not his thing. I hold on to him for an extra second, remembering him all over again. It feels good to smell his hair, but I keep thinking about Ty's hair too as I hug him.

We pull apart and he looks at me again.

"What?" I say.

"You've changed."

"Yeah...."

"A snakebite? Where did that come from?"

I shrug, hoping he doesn't remember from seeing Ty that he has snakebites. I did kind of get them because of him...

"It was that guy, wasn't it?" Damn!

"Uh, yeah, kinda. But he got his before I met him."

"And a tattoo?"

"Star forced me to get one."

"Any other surprises?"

"Um...." I mumble as I pull my shirt up, revealing my belly ring. I see Fang's eyebrows lift. I laugh.

"Didn't that hurt?" He asks.

"No, actually. It takes a lot to physically hurt me. You know with all the fights and giving birth in a forest--"

"Wait, giving birth in a forest?" Oops, let that slip.

"Uh, yeah."

"Why would you do that?"

"I kinda had no where to go after I escaped the School." He looked confused, so I decided to break out the whole story.

"Okay, so after I....left, the School found me, got me pregnant, yada yada yada, then I escaped and lived in trees until I gave birth one day and had to go to the hospital because obviously I can't just leave my baby with an umbilical cord wrapped around him. When I got there, they noticed the wings of course and the government came, providing me with this beautiful abode for three years. They pay me too, because of what I went through at the School. They bought all of Duo's stuff, his crib and everything."

"You named the baby Duo?"

"Yeah." I say in a "duh" tone.

"Why?"

"Because when he was born, it was just the two of us. We were all we had."

"I'm sorry." He said.

"It's fine. I'm over it now. We need to move on." He nods and I hear banging on the door.

"Okay! It's been quite a while that you've been talking in there, so either someone's dead, or you've made up. Let us in!" I hear Ty shout through the door.

I chuckle and go to the door, smiling.

"Is anyone dead?" He asks me with hope on his face.

"No! We're all fine. They're gonna be staying with us too."

"Really? More people?" Star says coming forward and into the house. They all come in and see the Flock eating in the dining room.

"Yup." I say.

"They have wings, right?"

"Yup."

"AWESOME!" She runs up to Fang and gets in his face.

"We started on the wrong foot. I'm Star," she shakes his hand.

"Fang." he says.

"I thought you said your name was Nick?"

"That's my cover up name."

"Oh. Well this is my beau, Jag," She says cheerfully grabbing his arm. He nods at Fang. Fang nods back.

"And my brother, Tar. He might take some getting used to," she whispered the last part.

"This is Mac," She said pointing to him. He nodded too.

"And that idiot over there, is Ty."

"Hey!" He said. I chuckled.

"He's also Max's hubby," I saw Fang tense up at that. I did too. Ty just smiled.

"Not officially," He corrected. I blushed and looked down.

"Yeah, and sorry about the 'Max got turned into a baby' thing. I didn't know if you were friend or foe yet."

"You told him I was turned into a baby?" I asked Ty incredulously.

"Well, yeah. I was protecting you." I glared at him. He smiled at charmingly. Did I just say charmingly?! Whoa, not me at all....

"Is anyone hot? It's really hot in here," Star said taking off her shirt. Her and the others put on shirts to be nice. All the boys took off their shirts too. I didn't take off mine yet. I didn't want Fang to be uncomfortable.

"Max, aren't you hot? You always have your shirt off too," Star says.

"Um, no not really."

"Oh come on. It's blazing in here," Ty saying.

"I'm fine."

"Max." I look up at him. He can tell I'm lying. Darn it! I give in. I slowly pull my shirt up over me, revealing my really tight shirt that I cut in half to make shorter.

"There. Happy now?" I ask them.

"Very," Ty says. I blush even more and start towards the stairs to put my shirt in my room.

So I have two families now. I've got the Flock back, and Star, Ty, Jag, Tar, and Mac. Not to mention Duo and Ace. I think I can get used to this eventually. The only question is, where is everybody gonna sleep?


	7. Untouchable

**I know I haven't updated in FOREVER!!!!! It's just that I just started HIGH SCHOOL and it's so overwhelming and I just—just-- please don't hate me!!!!! I'm sorry!!!! I'm trying to adjust to the high school life and update and write another completely different story in a notebook AND read the entire Mortal Instruments series _at the same time!!!!_ (They're AMAZING by the way...)**

**Anywhoo... here's the next chapter. The Flock has moved in with Max and her new gang and are looking for sleeping arrangements!!! :D Again, please forgive me!**

**Max POV**

In the end, our sleeping arrangements turned out to be that me, Nudge, Angel and Star will share my room with the babies, Ace and Duo of course. Tar, Fang, Iggy, and Jag will sleep in the guest bedroom (Ty made a huge fuss about it being gay, but gave in eventually) and Mac and Gazzy will sleep downstairs on the couch and floor until we can get some sort of upgrade.

It's about 10:30 at night, and I just put Duo to bed with Ty. I decided to Duo sleep with him tonight. I don't know why Ty loves him so much. He was ecstatic when I told him the news. Right now, I'm going around saying goodnight to everybody with Star. We started downstairs with Mac and Gazzy. I kissed Gazzy's forehead and he said,

"I love you Max. Thank you so so so so so much."

"Love you too, Gazzy. Goodnight." I ruffled his hair and Mac's before heading up the steps to say goodnight to by baby. No, not Ty, you perverts. Duo.

I knocked before I came in, afraid of what I might see if I didn't.

"Yeah?" I heard Jag call. I opened the door and walked in, seeing Ty resting on the bed, his back to the headboard, cradling Duo on his chest. The sight made me want to run up to Ty and give him the biggest kiss ever, in front of everybody, but obviously I can't do that. Jag was further down on the bed, not caring about sleeping in the same bed as Ty. They were like brothers, they were so close. Tar was sitting in a far corner, stabbing a knife into the wall repeatedly. He did this every night. It was a hobby of his. Fang and Iggy were close together, laying on the floor. Fang looked up at me when I came in. He grinned. I grinned back. I heard someone clear their throat and immediately looked at Ty, but his face was impassive, eyes closed. He didn't fool me.

I crouched down next to Fang and Iggy.

"You guys okay?" I asked them. Fang nodded and Iggy said,

"Yeah. Could you get me a glass of warm milk?"

"What are you a baby?" I said.

"No, but warm milk helps me sleep!"

"Just like a baby..." Ty muttered. His face the same way it's been since I walked in.

"Well—could you just get me some milk please?" Iggy said, giving up. I laughed and said,

"Sure. Anybody else want anything?"

"Yeah, could you get me my pacifier and blankie, please?" Ty said, mocking Iggy.

Jag laughed, and nudged Ty, telling him to leave Iggy alone.

"I think we're fine, Max." He answered. I nodded, smiling, then went over to Ty, whacking him on the head.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"For taunting my brother," I answered.

"Oh yeah sure, whatever."

I smiled at him and walked out, going to the kitchen to get Iggy's warm milk. Then I walked back into the boys' room, placing it in Iggy's hand.

"There, your highness." I said.

"Thank you."

"Goodnight guys," I said, walking towards the door.

"What, no goodnight kiss?" Ty called to me. I glanced at Fang, who was staring at Tar stabbing the wall, not paying attention to me.

"Sure," I said and walked back over to him. He looked really shocked. That wasn't the answer he was expecting. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. Well except for Iggy's but I'm sure he was trying to look at me.

I bent down slowly, my lips parted. Ty looked mesmerized in my lips. As I got closer he stared at them and licked his own. I almost considered really kissing him then, his lips looked good too...When my lips were close enough to brush his, I brought my hand up and slapped him. Jag and Tar started laughing. Ty looked completely baffled. He was at a loss for words.

"Goodnight." I said again, leaving the room, but not before stepping over Fang to get to the door. The hurt in his eyes was almost invisible, but not to someone who knew him as well as me.

**Fang POV**

God, I wanted to slap that guy for the way he was looking at Max as she closed in. I know I screwed up my chances, but this guy would have been completely whipped had she kissed him. I for one, knew it wasn't going to happen. I know Max too well. But it still hurt, knowing that she liked him back. If they were alone, I'm sure that kiss really would have happened. She was probably stopping herself because I was here. The dude Jag was still laughing after Max left.

"Dude! You got totally dissed and dismissed, brother," He said.

"Whatever, okay, did you see that look in her eyes? She so wants me." Ty said.

"Yeah, and I'm the Queen of Candy Mountain," Tar (the wall stabbing dude) said from the corner.

"I'm sure you are, Skittles. With all that stabbing, you're probably trying to make a portal there!"

"Shut up. It's not my fault Max is untouchable."

"You like her too?" I asked Tar.

"Max? Psh. Nah, dude. But she's untouchable. You can like her all you want, you're never gonna get her. She makes sure of it."

"Since when are you the Love Guru?" Ty asked.

"Since that beautiful thing with dark curly walked into this house." Tar said, smiling lightly. It took me a minute to figure out that he was talking about Nudge.

"She's untouchable too, as long as I'm here." Iggy said.

"What, you got the hots for her?" Jag asked.

"Maybe."

I knew all of this already. Iggy has been fighting this internal battle about Nudge for the longest. There was the age card, the race card....I told him if he loves her, go for it. No one's gonna stop it or say he can't.

"Well then I take my whole statement back." Tar muttered, disappointment obvious in his tone.

I ignored them then, thinking about Max and how she truly was untouchable. That entire scene with her and Ty earlier proved that. No one can have her, and she makes sure of it. I'm the only person she really opened up to at all, I doubt she'll open up again. Though she might if she feels that strongly about Ty, I mean....We all know I'm in love with her still but....She still hates me a little for what I did. She was the most beautiful thing in the world to me and I ruined it, as I assumed I would from the beginning.

"Yo, Fang." I heard suddenly. It was Jag, right above me, talking.

"Hm?"

"You dig Max, don't you?"

There was a long moment of silence. Me looking for something to say, how to say it. If I should say it. Ty was looking at me right in the eyes, like he was ready for any kind of competition. I didn't like being challenged, so I said,

"Hell yeah," not taking my eyes off of him. His eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Jag looked from me to him saying,

"Do I sense hostility?"

I kept staring at Ty, waiting for him to say something. Finally, after staring me down, he said,

"Good luck, emo-boy, because there's a pretty chance she'll choose me. I _am _holding her baby, aren't I? Her baby that she had to have because you decided to abandon her, leaving her helpless. Who do you think she'll choose? The loser who ditched her and came running back, or the awesome guy that filled in for his mistakes?"

I kept staring at him, well glaring. Glaring as hard as I could.

"Chances are, if you had stayed with Max a little longer, this baby would be yours."

His eyes pierced into mine, like the knife in Tar's hand.

"Considering you didn't....He's mine."

I saw red for a good five minutes straight, still staring this guy in the eyes. My arm flinched. If he weren't holding that baby his face would be in the wall right now. I took a deep breath and clenched my fists. Ty never broke his stare, I never broke mine. I could feel the fury rising inside of me wanting to explode on anything.

"Alright boys, it's late. Let's stop arguing and get some sleep."

My eyes still held Ty's.

"BOYS." Jag said, more harshly this time. I slowly turned my eyes and body around, my back to Ty. I laid down and shut my eyes, trying to calm down. Until I heard Ty mutter,

"Bastard."

I shot up and loomed over him, my fist in the air. I've had enough of this guy...

"What the fuck did you say?"

"I think you heard me--"

"Fang, I think it would be a good idea for you to sleep downstairs with Mac and Gazzy for the night." Jag said, grabbing my shoulders with amazing strength, and pushing me toward the door. He grabbed my blanket and pillow as well before we walked out. I snatched it from him and stomped down the stairs, loudly.

I heard a door open.

"Fang? What the hell are you stomping around for? You're gonna wake the babies!" The girl, Star, said poking her head out the door of the girl's room.

"Sorry," I said through clenched teeth.

"Something wrong?"

"No."

"Okay." I heard the door shut and I walked the rest of the way down the stairs with a lighter foot. Gazzy and Mac had taken up the two couches, so I took the chair/lounging thingy. It was more comfortable than I'd think. My last thought before I drifted off was,

_I hate Ty. _


	8. God, I'll Never Get Tired of That

**Max POV**

I woke up a little bit earlier that morning, considering it was my first night with the Flock in years. I really really wished I could muster up some kind of breakfast for them, but we all know my cooking skills...Ty is the only one who can really cook. Him and Iggy, now we're all one happy family.

As descended down the stairs, I saw Fang sleeping in the lounger, looking incredibly exhausted. What was he doing down here? Wasn't he supposed to be in the guest room with the other guys?

I walked over to him, gently shaking his shoulder. He groaned and opened his eyes, then yawning. I had a little flashback when he did this, reminding me of my days waking him up at the E-Shaped house.

"Max?" He asked.

"No, it's the grim reaper," I said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes and sat up.

"What's up?"

"Why are you down here instead of upstairs?" I caught a flash of anger in his eyes before he answered.

"I couldn't stay in there."

"Why?"

"Claustrophobia kicking in," he said. Any other day, it would be a logical and acceptable answer. Today, it wasn't. I knew he was lying.

"The truth, please?" I asked. He sighed, and glared at the wall behind me.

"Your boyfriend was taunting me."

Okay, we all know Fang is terrible with emotions and things of the sort, but he sounded truly and extremely pissed. I almost forgot the fact that he called Ty my boyfriend because his tone was so filled with hate.

"You mean Ty?" I asked.

"No, Santa Clause," He said, rolling his eyes. "Yes, Ty. I almost punched the dickhead's face into the wall."

"Not while he was holding Duo, I hope,"

"I'd never do that. Key word: almost."

"What'd he say?"

There was moment of silence, and Fang glared harder at the wall, clenching his fists.

"Nothing. But if he ever even looks at me wrong, I'll snatch his eyeballs out of their sockets and stuff em in his mouth."

"Ew, Fang! Gross! When did you get so hostile?! Well, we were always hostile, but..."

"Since I met Ty." He answered and got up, headed to the bathroom, leaving me confused.

How could make Fang this angry in just one night? Wanting to get my answers, I trudged back upstairs, both to check on my baby and to harass Ty.

(Awesome Invisible Line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

"What did you say to him?!" I yelled, storming into the boys' room. Tar and Jag got up immediately, pulling Iggy with them whispering,

"We'd better leave, this isn't gonna be pretty...."

"Shh! He's still sleeping! And what the hell are you talking about?" Ty whispered, to not wake my baby.

"What did you say to Fang?" I whispered back.

"Nothing."

"Yeah, now what did you really say?"

"Nothing. He was getting on my nerves though."

"Ty don't play this game with me! What did you say? I forgive all of them now, there's nothing you two should be arguing over!"

"Max, there's a shit load of stuff we could argue about. We're _guys_."

"I don't care what your gender is, Ty. You could be a transexual for all I care." He grimaced when I said that. "What did you say to Fang that's got him so upset?"

He sighed. "I told him the truth."

"Which is....?"

"He's a bastard." He said quietly. I stared at him blankly for a few seconds. That can't possibly be all he said. Fang has tough skin, even though his temper is on thin ice. Ty calling him a bastard shouldn't have made this angry.

"That's it?"

"Well, yeah, basically."

"What else did you say?"

"I just threw a couple things about how they left you....how I disagreed with his decision...."

"And?"

"That's it."

"No it's not."

"Yeah, it is."

"Stop lying to me! You know that's not all you said."

"I said that Duo...." The rest of his sentence was lost in w whisper I couldn't hear.

"You said Duo what?"

"Was...."

"Ty!"

"Okay! I said Duo was mine, okay? That's it. I swear. Sure there was a little playful banter, but that's just how I am. I said Duo was mine and he got pissed."

"Why would you say that?"

"Well...seeing how close we are and how much time I spend with him, I sorta am like his Dad...."

"You'd really take that responsibility?" I asked him. In truth, I was touched. I never knew Ty would step up like that, offer to be Duo's father. I knew that every second I wasn't holding him, Ty was. He could make Duo smile and giggle and play with him. Fang would....would not know what to do. I hate to say this but Ty would make a better father. And he hasn't betrayed me. Fang could step out any minute. If I had Ty...I knew he'd be there forever.

"I think I already have..." He muttered. I walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. He was shirtless, as all the guys here were. My eyes drifted to his chest, seeing Duo sleeping there peacefully, then back up to those beautiful blue eyes of his. He smiled at me, but I didn't smile back. I was in a trance looking at his lips. Seeing those two studs on either side, under his mouth. I saw him shift Duo so he was holding him with one hand. I had no worries that Ty would drop him. He was strong. He took his free hand and wrapped it around my chin, making me look back up.

I gulped and he started leaning in. I did too, then he suddenly jerked backwards, like I'd pushed him.

"Wait, you're not gonna slap me are you?" He whispered. I shook my head and pulled his down to meet mine. Suddenly it was like everything was on fire. All I could feel was him. My eyes were closed and I still saw him. Those ocean blue eyes piercing mine. His hand moved from my chin, to caress my face. I loved it. Every bloody freaking second of it.

Then his lips moved right under mine, sucking on my snakebite and I giggled. He figured out that I'd gotten it because of him. His lips moved back to mine, this time with tongue. He moaned as our tongues attacked each other. Again, I loved it. Every second of it.

We started to slow down, smaller gentler kisses, until we finally broke apart. He stared at me and I stared back. I could my flushed face start to release all the blood there back into my body. I was out of breath, and amazingly so was he.

I knew I wanted this guy. I wanted him, and I wanted him forever. Not just because of my child, but just because he was....him. Ty could be the silliest person in the room, but he's upset, you know it. His emotions stay plastered on his face like a tattoo. And he doesn't mind either. He doesn't try to bottle everything up for his entire life and only let go to one person, like Fang did with me.

"So...does that make us...together?" He asked.

"If you wanna be."

"Oh yeah, I so wanna be!" He said kissing me again. I laughed against his lips and told him we should wake up Duo and get some food. He agreed and kissed me again. As we walked out he said,

"God, I'll never get tired of that."


	9. I've Got Him

**WARNING!!! EXTREME SHORTNESS!!!!!!**

**Max POV**

We're all sitting down at the table for breakfast that Iggy prepared. Duo is in my lap, and after every bite I take, I feed him a little bit. He has his own mushed up breakfast in a jar that he eats. Remember all the government stuff I got? Yeah, this is part of it. They really set him up with everything. He's also getting so big. He's not chubby, of course not. He wouldn't be with our Avian DNA, but he's bigger than the average month old baby. I think the fact that I smoothed his hair up into a Mohawk with baby oil might also make him look older. Ty says he looks cute though.

Another thing about Duo is that he's very active and alert. A few minutes ago when I tried to feed him some fruit, he grabbed it off the spoon and threw it in Iggy's face.

"Who did that?" He asked, angry.

"Ah-ah!" Duo said in baby language, clapping his hands.

"Was it him?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah, he kinda chucked a diced pear at you, Iggy. Sorry bout that." Ty replied.

"Hm. It seems that the little monster doesn't like me."

"He's just being a baby, Ig. He didn't mean it." I told him as I cleaned off Duo's hand.

"Sure he didn't...."

After a while of talking and eating as far as fourths, Duo yawns and squeaks a little bit, grabbing my shirt.

"I'm gonna take him up for a nap, guys." I tell everyone.

"I'll come with you." Ty says. I shake my head.

"It's okay, I've got him." He looks at me for a second then nods and turns around. I know he hasn't let it go yet and is wondering what's wrong, but he'll find out later. The truth is that I want to spend some quality time with my baby. Everyone (the Flock) had been all over him and don't get me wrong, I love the fact that they love him and he loves them, but I hardly get any time with him anymore. If the Flock doesn't have him, Ty does. I never get to be with him. I feel like I hardly know him. So I want to spend all day with him and have no one hold him but me. I know that probably won't work, but I can try. He is _my_ baby.

I take him up into my room and lay him on the bed, next to me. He looks up and smiles before he yawns again. I gently caress his smooth face and whisper, "Go to sleep, baby. You're tired." I swear it almost looks like he's shaking his head, but I think it was the light, or something. He grabs my finger and squeezes, then tries to put it in his mouth. I let him. He's practically a clone of me, his saliva doesn't bother me. Pretty soon he yawns again, and I take my finger out his mouth and put a blanket over him.

"Sleep." I whisper and kiss his forehead. He shuts his little eyes and drifts off into a land only he understands. Not long after him, I float to sleep myself.


End file.
